Page 33 of Pucking Them
Silas won’t know that we were here.
I snap a quick photograph on my phone of the Haha file, before sending it to D’Angelo with a smiley face emoji.
D’Angelo may spank me later for taking this risk.
But it’s worth it.
Eden pockets the thumb drive, before turning off the computer.
“I would prefer to be reading a book and drinking tea right now,” he grumbles. “But we do make a good team.”
“The Spy Twins.”
“Aren’t we normally called the Trouble Twins?”
“We do have form. Our escapades at school were legendary.” I shove myself off the desk.
“Yours were.” Eden stands up, edging around the desk. “If legendary means hanging upside down off the school roof, leading to us both being suspended.”
I grab Eden’s hand, pulling him toward the door. “It was my safe space. I felt overwhelmed. I wanted to see what the sun looked like upside down.”
Eden arches his pierced brow. “The same?”
“The sky is never the same, no matter how long you look at it. It’s incredible, bro.”
“I went up there to stop you falling off and breaking your neck.”
I stop, turning to look over my shoulder at him. “I know. I told the headmaster that you were the hero, right? But that old bully only cared about rules.”
“Strange for a teacher.”
I tighten my hold on his hand. “Was it always me getting you into trouble?”
I remember Mum and Dad’s disappointed expressions when they were called into the headmaster’s office to bring us home.
Dad lost his job because he’d had to leave to sort out my mess.
He never blamed me.
In fact, he didn’t even tell me. Except, grounded to my room, I still heard Mom crying that night through the thin walls, while he tried to comfort her.
My shoulders hunch with guilt.
Eden squeezes my hand back. “I wouldn’t have been able to speak or understand anything without you. Trouble was a small price. It still is.”
My throat is tight. “But what if…what if I wastroublewhen we were little? What if that’s why our parents…our real ones…sold us?”
Eden rips his hand away from mine, and my stomach sinks. “Don’t ever say that again.”
My heart breaks.
Does he think that too? Has he always blamed me for what happened to us?
My eyes prick with tears.
Before I can turn to him, however, the door handle suddenly rattles.
Shit, Silas is back already.
